To explore BC’s New Curriculum visit https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/

What exactly is SOGI education?

There is no separate and distinct SOGI program or curriculum. Sexual orientation and gender identity are important topics that are interwoven through several curriculum areas, most notably, physical and health education, language arts, and social studies. How the topics are introduced to students is dependent on the age and stage of their development. These topics may also be discussed as they arise in the daily lives of students.

Find more information on SOGI here.

K/1

Big ideas:

  • Learning about ourselves and others helps us develop a positive attitude and caring behaviours, which helps us build healthy relationships.
  • Names for parts of the body, including male and female private parts.
  • Caring behaviours in groups and families.
  • Ways in which individuals and families differ and are the same.

Sample topics:

  • Similarities and differences could include physical characteristics (e.g., hair, skin colour, eyes), cultural characteristics (e.g., language, family origins, food and dress), and other characteristics (e.g., preferred activities, favourite books and movies, pets, neighbourhood).
  • Different types of families (nuclear, extended, step-families, adoptive and biological, same-sex, single-parent, etc.).
  • Comparison of families in the past and present (e.g., families in your grandparents’ time compared with present-day families).

2/3

Big ideas:

  • Having good communication skills and managing our emotions enables us to develop and maintain healthy relationships.
  • Our physical, emotional, and mental health are interconnected.
  • Develop and demonstrate respectful behaviour when participating in activities with others.
  • Identify caring behaviours among classmates and within families.
  • Understand diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives within the local and other communities.
  • Identify personal skills, interests, and preferences and describe how they influence self-identity.
    • self-esteem
    • self-efficacy
    • cultural heritage
    • body image
    • interests
    • media
    • peers
  • Aspects of life shared by and common to peoples and cultures.

Sample topics:

  • family
  • work
  • education
  • systems of ethics and spirituality

4/5

Big Ideas:

  • Understanding ourselves and the various aspects of health helps us develop a balanced lifestyle.
  • Developing healthy relationships helps us feel connected, supported, and valued.
  • Strategies for responding to bullying, discrimination, and violence.
  • Could include:
    • Assessing the situation
    • Avoiding
    • Being assertive
    • Reporting
    • Seeking help
  • Factors that influence self-identity, including body image and social media.
  • How we see and feel about our bodies; can be influenced by the words and actions of others.
  • Physical (how students’ bodies are growing and changing during puberty), emotional (how students’ thoughts and feelings might evolve or change during puberty), and social changes (how students interact with others and how their relationships might evolve or change during puberty) that occur during puberty, including those involving sexuality (having a capacity for sexual feelings) and sexual identity (a component of a person’s identity that reflects his or her sexual self-concept).

Social Studies 5:

Big Ideas:

  • Canada’s policies and treatment of minority peoples have negative and positive legacies.
  • Human rights and responses to discrimination in Canadian society.

Arts Education 5

Big Ideas:

  • Engaging in creative expression and experiences expands people’s sense of identity and community.
  • Explore relationships between identity, place, culture, society, and belonging through the arts.

6/7

Big Ideas:

  • We experience many changes in our lives that influence how we see ourselves and others.
  • Healthy choices influence our physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
  • Learning about similarities and differences in individuals and groups influences community health.
  • Physical (how students’ bodies are growing and changing during puberty and adolescence), emotional (how students’ thoughts and feelings might evolve or change during puberty and adolescence), and social changes (how students interact with others and how their relationships might evolve or change during puberty and adolescence) that occur during puberty and adolescence.
  • Influences on individual identity, including sexual identity (a component of a person’s identity that reflects his or her sexual self-concept), gender, values, and beliefs.
  • Consequences of bullying, stereotyping, and discrimination.

Social Studies, 6

Big Ideas:

  • Systems of government vary in their respect for human rights and freedoms.

Arts Education, 5/6

Big Ideas:

  • Engaging in creative expression and experiences expands people’s sense of identity and community.
  • Explore relationships between identity, place, culture, society, and belonging through the arts.
  • Through art making, one’s sense of identity and community continually evolves.

English Language Arts, 6

Big Ideas:

  • Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.

8/9

Big Ideas:

  • Healthy choices influence our physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
  • Healthy relationships can help us lead rewarding and fulfilling lives.
  • Advocating for the health and well-being of others connects us to our community.
  • Practices could include:
    • Knowing and respecting personal and family values.
    • Knowing boundaries and being able to communicate them.
    • Being aware of what to do in risky situations.
    • Influences of physical (how students’ bodies are growing and changing during puberty and adolescence), emotional (how students’ thoughts and feelings might evolve or change during puberty and adolescence), and social changes (how students interact with others and how their relationships might evolve or change during puberty and adolescence).
  • On identities and relationships.
  • Healthy sexual decision making.
  • Potential short- and long-term consequences of health decisions, including those involving.
  • Nutrition, protection from sexually transmitted infections, and sleep routines.
  • Consequences of bullying, stereotyping, and discrimination.
  • Influences of physical, emotional, and social changes on identities and relationships.